NEW YORK, Feb 23, 2026, 15:52 EST — Regular session.
- IREN shares rose nearly 6% in afternoon trade, outpacing most U.S.-listed crypto miners even as bitcoin slipped.
- The company is set to join the MSCI USA Index after the close on Feb. 27.
- A Cantor Fitzgerald 13F filing showed a 3.47 million-share IREN stake at year-end, alongside put options.
IREN Limited shares rose nearly 6% on Monday, bucking a drop in bitcoin and moving ahead of most U.S.-listed crypto miners. The Nasdaq-listed stock was up about 5.8% at $42.28 in afternoon trade after ranging from $38.94 to $42.55.
Focus is turning to Friday. IREN said earlier this month it will be added to the MSCI USA Index after the close on Feb. 27, a change that can force index-tracking funds to rebalance. “Being added to the MSCI USA Index reflects the scale and liquidity we have built in the business,” co-CEO Daniel Roberts said. (GlobeNewswire)
A separate catalyst sits in the filings. Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. disclosed it held 3.47 million IREN shares worth about $131 million as of Dec. 31 in a Form 13F filing dated Feb. 17; 13F reports are quarterly snapshots of large investment managers’ U.S. equity positions. The same filing listed put options — contracts that can gain value when a stock falls — tied to 5.03 million IREN shares. (SEC)
The rebound follows a sharp selloff on Friday, when IREN fell 7.7% to close at $39.98, according to Reuters data. The stock has been prone to these fast turns, especially around crypto-linked names. (Reuters)
In its last quarterly update on Feb. 5, IREN said revenue fell to $184.7 million for the three months ended Dec. 31 and it posted a net loss of $155.4 million as it shifted more capacity from bitcoin mining toward AI cloud services. The company said it secured $3.6 billion of financing for graphics processing units (GPUs) — the chips used to train AI models — under a Microsoft contract, had $2.8 billion in cash as of Jan. 31, and still targeted $3.4 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR) by end-2026. “We are seeing the strongest demand environment to date,” Roberts said. (GlobeNewswire)
But the story depends on execution. GPU build-outs eat cash, and demand can cool quickly; bitcoin weakness can also spill back into miners, regardless of their AI pitch.
Eyes now turn to Wednesday, when Nvidia will host a conference call on Feb. 25 after U.S. markets close, a potential spark for AI-linked infrastructure names. The MSCI change on Friday sets up another test, with any last-minute buying likely to show up into the close. (NVIDIA Newsroom)
For IREN, the next few sessions may come down to whether passive inflows arrive as promised and whether bitcoin steadies. If either breaks the wrong way, the stock can give back gains just as fast.
